Can you feel it?
There’s something weird in the air, and I think I’m perfectly justified in tossing out this piece of unfounded conjecture based on sheer gut instinct:
Donald Trump is suddenly acting like a man who is about to quit his job.
Wishful thinking? Quite possibly. But he doesn’t seem like he’s having any fun lately, and that’s the whole ball of wax for a guy like Trump who carries no actual ideology and no sense of duty or mission when it comes to the country whose interests he has been tasked with protecting as its president.
For Trump, it’s all about Trump, as we know. Full stop. He no longer seems inclined to pretend he gives a single crap about…well, anything. He just claimed he didn’t give a good goddamn if the peace talks with Iran were over or not. He was no longer trying to save the Kennedy Center and didn’t care about what it was called after a judge’s ruling. He gave up without putting up even a tiny fuss about his $1.8 billion slush fund.
He also famously noted that he didn’t care about the financial struggles of the American consumer due to exploding gasoline and grocery prices. And far from trying to rescue his Great American Country Fair on the National Mall in D.C. on June 24, he labeled all the artists who pulled out “losers” and said screw it, I’ll just entertain everyone myself.
He has rapidly transformed his presidency into a vendetta on American citizens, like a high school kid who’s been shunted aside by his clique. “You don’t like me? Well, I don’t like you more!"
Trump is behaving like an utterly broken man who is done even trying. He’s tired. He’s infirm. He’s losing cognition. The walls are moving in on him. He has to know on some level that the country, and the world, have lined up against him. And so, coward that he is, I’m speculating that he sees cutting and running to be his best move.
This is, in general, all very Un-Trumplike behavior. The man will fight tooth and nail to defend his purported “honor” over the pettiest thing. But now he’s just tossing his hands in the air and metaphorically saying, “To hell with it – and all of you!”
But here is why I’m thinking he may be about to pack it in, and soon: It’s all about the spectacle for this guy. He could get the biggest bang for his purloined buck, as it were – not to mention the greatest hit of martyrdom – by going out in a blaze of ignominious glory by saying sayonara on his 80th birthday: June 14.
He could pretend that the extra-long celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4 is designed to honor him, and he alone.
And meanwhile, Trump could satisfy everyone, both himself and all others, by walking away and leaving the country to clean up the considerable mess he created – like a toddler flinging his or her soiled diaper following a lengthy meltdown.
Yep, Trump is bored with the war he launched. He said so directly that the discussions to end it “started to get very boring” during his already legendary CNBC phone interview on Monday. He tends to lose interest very quickly, like every man-baby whose attention is regularly diverted by the newest shiny object.
He doesn’t even seem to have his heart in the immigration crackdown anymore. It was never something he actually cared about in the first place, naturally. It was just a means to an end to endear him to his MAGA hordes. DHS is reportedly starting to sell off some of the massive detention warehouses it had purchased. Alligator Alcatraz has already been closed.
And. Trump. Couldn’t. Care. Less.
Oh yeah, he also doesn’t care about the midterms. How do we know? He said so himself. I have no doubt his Republican colleagues would love for him to step down before he does the November elections any more damage.
But even besides all of that, one could make the argument that Trump has already plundered the Oval Office for everything he can. He’s made billions for himself and his immediate and extended family, enriching them with all variety of schemes – most of them transparently corrupt.
And keep your eye on the Internal Revenue Service immunity debacle. Even with the dumping of the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” the concurrent agreement that permanently shields Trump, his family members, and his businesses from any IRS audits or actions, past, present or future, in perpetuity, continues forth.
In many ways, it’s an even greater unethical debasement of the presidency than the slush fund. One could make the case that it’s one of the key reasons why Trump ran for the office again in 2024, to stop the government from going after him for the likely innumerable tax sins he and his clan have committed over the years and plan to commit again.
So if you’re Trump, you’ve already used the office for what you want. And if you know that the final 2 ½ or so years of your administration are going to be packed with inquiries and lawsuits and losing decisions, why would you want to stick around to face that inevitable music?
This is to say nothing of his ongoing accountability dodge of the Epstein Files. Judgment Day is bound to come, sooner or later, and at this point, Trump just may want to hide out and dictate his directives from the safe distance of Mar-a-Lago rather than the White House fishbowl.
What’s that you’re saying? Trump’s ego would never allow him to step down? He’s too fearful of prosecution to ever willingly expose himself to life as a regular citizen before he has to? Don’t be so sure. For one, I don’t think Trump genuinely fears incarceration at this point. I think he believes his money and repute will protect him through the final chapter of his miserable life.
So I’m betting that Trump may well be preparing to leave it all behind, play golf and spit into the wind without having to face any of the negative blowback anymore.
To this I say, please merciful God, let it be so.
Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.
